Leaving your mark requires enough patience

The fourth session of the virtual roadshow organized by TriFinance around its book brought four managers to the screen: CFO Patrick Delmotte at Rossel, who publishes among others the newspaper Le Soir; CFO Nicolas Macchia at the food retailer Delfood; CFO Jean-Pierre Butacide at SPIE Belgium, a local subsidiary of a European leader in multi-technical services; and Walter Deprins, Head of Corporates at TriFinance Belgium.

Nicolas Macchia opens the discussion on job hopping with his vision that daring to seize new opportunities and changing employers helps a career. "But don't change too quickly", Patrick Delmotte reacts with a smile and Nicolas Macchia agrees. Walter Deprins adds that looking for a job should not be an end in itself.

The TriFinance Leader Corporates observes that the younger generations have a different view on career development than older people and stresses that the employer's investment in an employee must be given the opportunity to bear fruit. Rossel's CFO believes that two years is not enough time to truly 'know' an organization and its activities. For him, such in-depth understanding is necessary for the employee to fully generate added value.

Jean-Pierre Butacide also notes that some young people change employers too quickly. In the same time he points out that employers must continue to offer opportunities and alternatives to employees. "A career can develop vertically by moving up the hierarchical ladder, or horizontally by acquiring new skills," he points out. He sees three phases in an employee's development within an organization: "The learning phase, the stabilization phase and finally the phase in which the employee is fully profitable.”

Jean-Pierre Butacide fears that the Covid crisis could lead to the premature departure of new recruits. "It is difficult for them to integrate into their new environment when physical meetings and presence in the office are not possible." Patrick Delmotte and Walter Deprins believe that Covid discourages people from seeking other horizons.

Nicolas Macchia, from his part, says surprisingly that working from home strengthens the team spirit in his department: "In the past, we have never met as a group of fifteen people. Now we do this almost every day - virtually - for about half an hour".

Teleworking has become a given. The panel members agree on this. They also agree on the greater difficulty when supervision and control has to be done virtually.

Moreover, they are on the same page that digitalization requires new skills. For example, it is no longer a question of being able to collect data - computers do it - but of being capable to analyze this data.

The managers are in favor of the possibilities of new technology, but warn that it does not always generate the expected return on investment. "Above all, you need to have the financial resources for digital transformation," stresses Nicolas Macchia. Walter Deprins adds to this financial argument: "Implementation must be done step by step because organizations are complex and modernization requires a clear vision of the processes. It is not a question of merely installing an application on a smartphone".